Ildefons Lima

Ildefons Lima Solà (born 10 December 1979) is an Andorran former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

He played club football in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra. In a 26-year international career, the longest in men's football history, Lima set the records for most appearances and most goals for Andorra (137 and 11).

Early life Lima was born in Barcelona, Catalonia to an Andalusian father and a Catalan mother . His family moved to Andorra when he was two months old.

Club career Lima's first years as a senior were spent with FC Andorra, playing one season each in the Spanish third and fourth divisions. Subsequently, he played at both levels with RCD Espanyol B and UE Sant Andreu, splitting the following campaign abroad between Ionikos F.C. of Greece and C.F. Pachuca in Mexico.

In the summer of 2002, Lima returned to Spain, remaining one and a half seasons at newly relegated UD Las Palmas in the Segunda División. He scored his only two goals as a professional in the country on 22 December 2002 and 14 June 2003, respectively against Levante UD (1–1) and CD Numancia (1–0 away win); he appeared just three times in 2003–04, ended with relegation. He moved in January 2004 to another team in that league, Polideportivo Ejido, and spent the following campaign with Rayo Vallecano in division three.

Lima then played four years with US Triestina Calcio 1918 in Italy. With the Trieste side, he was occasionally used as a forward at the request of elusive chairman Flaviano Tonellotto. In 2009, aged nearly 30, he switched countries again, signing for AC Bellinzona of the Swiss Super League.

After two seasons in Switzerland and one back at Triestina, Lima signed again for FC Andorra, now of the Primera Catalana, instead of several offers to play in the principality's Primera Divisió. On 12 June 2014, he joined the latter league's champion FC Santa Coloma. He scored for them on 8 July in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League away to FC Banants, as they advanced on away goals; he also claimed four national championships in a row.

Having spent four years with Santa Coloma, Lima signed with Inter Club d'Escaldes in August 2018, winning their first league in history in 2019–20 and repeating the feat the next two campaigns.

International career Lima made his debut for Andorra aged 17 years and 6 months, in the country's second ever game on 22 June 1997, scoring in a 4–1 friendly defeat in Estonia, becoming their youngest player and goalscorer.

In June 2009, near the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Lima scored his first competitive goal for over eight years and six years overall, netting the last goal of a 5–1 away loss against Belarus. On 9 September 2014, in Andorra's first match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualification phase, he netted a sixth-minute penalty to give the side a 1–0 lead over Wales, but in an eventual 1–2 home defeat.

After Óscar Sonejee, Lima was the second Andorran to reach a century of caps, playing his 100th game on 1 June 2016, a 2–0 friendly loss to Estonia in Tallinn. On 22 February 2017 he opened a 2–0 away win over San Marino in another exhibition game, ending an 86-game winless run.

Lima surpassed Sonejee's national record of 106 internationals on 16 August 2017, when he played a friendly against Qatar in Burton-on-Trent. In 2020, the Andorran Football Federation removed him from the team – against the wishes of coach Koldo Álvarez – when the player spoke out against football resuming in the principality without COVID-19 testing. FIFPRO, the world's trade union for footballers, called for FIFA to intervene in his favour.

On 3 June 2021, Lima became just the third European footballer (after Billy Meredith and Jari Litmanen) to be capped in four different decades when playing in a friendly defeat to Republic of Ireland. On 10 June 2022, after featuring five minutes of the 2–1 victory over Liechtenstein in a UEFA Nations League fixture, he became at 41 years and 6 months Andorra's oldest player ever, breaking Juli Sánchez's record.

On 16 June 2023, the 43-year-old Lima became the oldest player to appear at a UEFA European Championship qualifying match. He retired from the national team after a Euro 2024 qualifier against Switzerland on 12 September 2023; he was substituted after 23 minutes to a standing ovation by both sets of supporters and replaced by Ricard Fernández, a player born two years into his international career. His 26-year spell for his country was the longest in men's football history.

Personal life Despite debuting for the Andorra national team when he was 17, Lima became a citizen of the country when he lived there for 20 years.

Career statistics Club

International + Appearances and goals by national team and year National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals

Copa Constitució: 2018

Inter d'Escaldes Primera Divisió: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 Copa Constitució: 2020 Andorran Supercup: 2020, 2021